


Yona and Her Dragons

by Procrastination_Sensation



Series: Those Closest to Her Heart [1]
Category: Akatsuki no Yona | Yona of the Dawn
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Gen, I literally wrote this as I reread this, It is as accurate as I could make it, Platonic Soulmates, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, while adding in the soulmate bits
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-27
Updated: 2016-03-27
Packaged: 2018-05-28 02:43:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 19,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6312244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Procrastination_Sensation/pseuds/Procrastination_Sensation
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When your soulmate gets a bruise, you get one in a different color. (Inspired by one of those Tumblr AU prompt posts.)<br/>On top of being one of the rare few to have soulmates, Yona's lucky enough to have four.</p><p>Has spoilers up to, like, chapter 103 or something. It covers up to the original dragons, but doesn't go past that. Switches POVs, but it's pretty clear who they are (I think I did well at staying in character). Usual grammar rules don't apply, but there's no spelling mistakes, just a lot of ands and buts and run-on-sentences. It's written kind of like a thought process. Third person present tense.<br/>T for canon-violence and a couple cuss words.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Yona and Her Dragons

**Author's Note:**

> Italics are either for emphasis, speech, or a direct thought depending on if there's "quotes" around them.
> 
> ~ is a POV switch

Princess Yona is born with four white claw marks marring the skin of her back.

 

In all honesty, it nearly gives the midwives a collective heart-attack, thinking something had happened to her. The Queen herself panics, in her just-given-birth state of mind she is unable to understand what is going on. It takes about half an hour of reassuring her that nothing is actually wrong with the fussing baby girl, that _“look, her back feels completely fine, it’s not actually a wound- more a birthmark, really”_ for the Queen to calm down. But it isn't, of course, a birthmark.

 

Soulmarks were, although rare, the perfect explanation. When one’s soulmate is injured, you receive a similar injury in the color of what is widely considered your soulmate’s aura. It's just a mark, not in the slightest a wound, and the baby would probably never know about it unless someone told her when she was older.

 

What is more worrying to Emperor Il, his wife, and all the nurse-maids, is: what in the _world_ is this soulmate of Yona’s _doing_ , getting clawed by what looked like a _bear_?? Surely Yona’s soulmate isn't so old as to be getting in fights with _bears_? And if this soulmate _is_ near enough Yona's age... A _bear_? The only thing the Emperor and Queen have to reassure themselves of is that surely a person with a white aura would be kind, and pure, and good. And the fact that those marks heal within two days of Yona's birth and not a single new mark touches her skin, it must mean that the incident is an anomaly at most, surely?

 

It is when Yona is about three months old that the castle is once again thrown into disarray.

 

The Queen still keeps baby Yona right by her side at all times, understandable considering this child is her first. They are in the garden, Yona bundled up in a silk blanket and dozing as the Queen dozes as well in the warm sunlight, taking advantage of the recent development of her daughter only crying for _good reasons_. Then, between one glance down to her daughter and the next, a vivid green mark suddenly encompasses the left side of the baby girl's jaw-bone. For a moment, the Queen simply blinks and stares, thinking maybe her eyes need adjusting. Maybe the green of the grass and the leaves of flowers and trees had simply imprinted itself into her eyes, as it were? Then, before her eyes, another green mark stamps itself onto Yona's forehead, right above her left eye, clashing garishly with the deep red of the hair that is _falling out steadily- yes, but still_.

 

The Queen's scream is heard throughout the structure, summoning the entire population of Hiryuu Castle.

 

It is harder for the servants to calm the Queen down this time, and even though there is still only one explanation, it is so much more far-fetched now. It is rare enough for a soulmark to appear, but for someone to have _two_ soulmates is practically unheard of. It certainly doesn't help matters at all that the green marks just _"_ _keep coming why won't it stop oh God please-”_

 

It is a couple hours later that the green marks stop appearing all over the infant princess's body, and a few hours more that the Queen is finally calmed from her hysterics. The nursemaids tut as they take off the blankets and survey the damage that has been inflicted on whoever must be the princess's soulmate, everything from the splotches all over the girl’s face and body to what look like cuff marks on her wrists and left ankle.

 

 _“White and Green”_ is heard in whispers throughout the corridors of the castle. _“White and Green and not very fortunate at all it seems_. _First_ claw marks _on her_ _back from White, and now...”_ That is where it would always trail off, because what could all that green mean but _abuse_ and from the cuff marks... _Imprisonment?_ _Slavery?_

 

The talk of soulmates is soon enough banned from the castle, because, of course, it begins to wear on the poor Queen’s mental health, and sometimes the gossip could become somewhat insidious because _“my, surely they're not that unlucky_ because _they're the princess's soulmates? Surely?"_

 

But even though white never again appears on his daughter’s skin, even when the green mostly heals _the shackles never fade_ it just keeps coming back. Again. And again. It worries even the worst of the gossips, if only because _"whoever that poor being is, surely_ no one _deserves to go through so much.”_ As it keeps coming, Emperor Il even begins considering sending out search parties to find Yona's green soulmate _but how on_ earth _would he find them there's not even a guarantee that they are in Kouka_ and he reassures himself that Yona does not feel the sympathy pain that comes with being in the vicinity of the soulmate being injured, and _oh, thank Hiryuu his daughter does not need to feel this_.

 

It becomes much more complicated when Yona can start questioning for herself what they mean.

 

 _“Father”_ she asks sometimes, for the first time at almost two years of age, which is honestly not long after she started talking _“father, why am I green?”_ It is an awkward topic to say the least. Soulmarks are a topic of conversation that has been banned from the castle, and one of the only people that can break this ban is asking the only other. But he does not want to tell her. After all, what can he say? _The green marks represent wounds inflicted on your soulmate_? Surely he could not say that. All he wants Yona to know of the world is of how peaceful and beautiful it is, and of how happy their people are, even if it may not be completely true. So he avoids the topic each time it is brought up, telling her that _"maybe when you're older, Yona love."_

 

It is on the morning of her third birthday that she asks again, covered from head-to-foot in those green bruises (because _what else could he really call them anymore?_ ). Her eyes have worry as well as curiosity now, which is explained as she continues _“Hak says they look like bruises- they're not mine I haven't been doing anything to_ get _bruises like_ this _Father I don't understand_. _”_ And it is now that he can't avoid the topic. Yes, he wishes he could wait until she is older _my god she's only three why does she have to know of the horrors of the world so young_ , but he cannot look into his daughter's eyes and tell her she's not old enough to know anymore. Not when those eyes are shining with worry and confusion and _fear_.

 

He tells her of soulmates and soulmarks and she throws her first real tantrum as she screams and cries and demands _“Father why can't I help them?”_ and _“Father they're hurting I need to help them”_ and _“Father why won't_ you _help them?”_ and _“You said this kingdom is a kind and happy place I don't understand Father_ why _?”_ He is too busy trying to calm her down to even _think_ of telling her about her white soulmate.

 

She cries herself to sleep that night and she won't speak to him for quite a while. He thinks that maybe he should've waited just a little longer because after that set of green heals none follows. There is usually a reprieve of anything from a week to a month, but there is always a steady replacement. Honestly, it is surprising in retrospect that it took three months for the marks to show themselves the first time. But nothing follows after that birthday. No green to replace the green, no cuff marks that had seemed eternally etched into her skin. It is after two months have passed since the last green marks that the Queen finds Yona crying again, but when she goes to comfort the young princess she finds that the tears her daughter cries are happy. _“They're safe now”_ she tells her mother, words drenched in relief. _"They're not in a bad place anymore. They're safe.”_

 

The ban on the soulmate conversation is tested again three years later, broached by an innocent Soo-Won. _“Yona has a bruise on her knee, and she says it's fine and that she probably just tripped but it's bluer than any light bruises. Even Hak says-”_ but that's enough to get Emperor Il rushing to his daughter’s side because for some reason it doesn't really surprise him anymore. White and Green, why not Blue as well?

 

And his nephew is right, he acknowledges as he looks at his flustered daughter’s knee, this blue is not natural. And so he tells her _then_ , in front of his nephew and Mundok’s grandson because otherwise he’ll lose his nerve and chicken out _like the coward they say he is_ , and he asks her if she remembers Green. She says yes, and it does not surprise him because even if she _had_ only been three, that kind of thing sticks with you. Then he tells her about White, and now, it seems, Blue. The three children look at him in awe, then at the little spot of blue on the girl’s knee. Emperor Il can only find himself grateful that this new soulmate does not have the misfortune of Green, that this _is_ , in fact, a simple bruise one gets from tripping.

 

As the years pass it becomes the norm. She is usually bruise-free and her skin is clear, but occasionally she will find a blue bruise on her knee or maybe hip that only she and her aids would know of if she didn't tell her best friends. _“Blue just runs into things a lot”_ she says, _"trips a lot too, they probably live somewhere rocky_. _”_ It is a rare occasion indeed that white finds its way onto her skin, very rare, thin scratches that trace her body like old scars. Green is still the worst with injuries, but it is nothing like it was before. Sometimes Yona will come to dinner with green on her hands like harsher scratches, and there is the more occasional bruise on her face or arms. _“Green_ _is a ruffian”_ she tells those boys laughingly, _“but they fight for justice, as befitting of my soulmate.”_

 

It is _not_ the norm when Yona refuses to come out of her room for hours after dawn at sometime when she's twelve. She refuses to allow even servants to come in, and as the hours pass it stops being passed off as _“the Princess wants to sleep in more”,_ and becomes more worrisome. But at noon, when Emperor Il himself is about to have the door broken down because _“Yona what is wrong please tell me”_ , Yona comes out in her nightgown, looking rather pale but not in the least injured. Even when she is pressured by everyone at the castle ( _because_ really _it could be anything from her being sick to there having been an intruder_ ), she tells not a soul why she had secluded herself. Even when Hak demands an answer, Hak who she tells _everything_ , even then she just bites her lip and shakes her head.

 

It is not until Soo-Won comes to gently prod her does she spill her secret to the boys. _“Yellow_ _"_ she says with a pale and drawn face. _“I woke up and I was covered in yellow.”_ Although it's partially a surprise, it's not that much of one anymore.

 

 _“Yellow, huh”,_ Hak says to her _“You have another one?”_ But it is Soo-Won that asks the right question, because, _“Yona, what do you mean by_ covered _?”_

 

Her face pales more and the boys are alert as she says in a dry whisper _“it was_ _everywhere.”_ It takes even more prodding from the two to find out how serious it actually was. _“It was all over my face, and my neck_... _”_ She swallows as she rubs her neck like she can still picture the yellow mark around her neck. _“And my arm... was entirely yellow. Practically my entire body was yellow_. _”_ The boys themselves pale as well as realization sets in. _“Princess,”_ Hak says as he grabs her shoulders, _“Princess, when did they disappear?”_ She swallows again and says even quieter that _“it barely took an hour_. _”_

 

 _“What does it mean?”_ She asks tearfully, a small hand gripping each of the boys’ sleeves. _“They always take about half a day to heal, what does it_ mean _?”_ They don't know what to say. Neither of them know anything about soulmarks besides what Yona and Emperor Il had said, so they have no reassurances to offer the frightened girl. They have to come up with something, though, when she grows even more panicked and starts crying.

 

 _“Surely they would've disappeared faster if Yellow had...”_ Soo-Won tells her, pausing to swallow and trailing off. Hak follows up with a _“yeah, I doubt soulmarks would stay after your soulmate...”_ Even Hak can't say it, can't finish the thought aloud, but it is obvious what both of them are saying. _Your soulmate is safe_. Yona sniffles but dries her eyes, believing these boys that have never once lied to her, but the topic of Yellow is not broached again, and she brings up her soulmates less often now, even when she comes out to play with a green mark on her cheek or blue marks on the inside of her palm that everyone and their mother would swear were marks one would get from grasping the blade of a sword but _this is Princess Yona, and she has never once touched a weapon_.

 

~

 

Princess Yona's world is turned upside down and sent spinning on a top when she goes to speak with her father, only to find him with a sword through his chest, driven there by one of her only friends and her first love. She escapes the castle that had been her home and her whole world with Hak’s help ( _really, she wouldn't have escaped the guards from the beginning without his help_ ) and she is so unresponsive that it worries him as he drags the doll-like Princess with him to Fuuga.

 

It isn't until they leave Fuuga, in search of the priest, that she wakes up with a racing heartbeat and tears on her face. _“What's wrong?”_ he implores of her as she steadies her breathing, head between her knees. _"_ _Hak,”_ she chokes. _"_ _Hak_ , _he knows_. _”_ He's confused and worried, therefore impatient as he demands _"_ _He who? Knows what?_ Who _knows what?”_ She sucks in breathy gasps as she whispers _"_ _Soo-Won,”_ and he freezes as she continues shakily _"_ _he knows about my soulmates.”_ She grabs the front folds of his overcoat as she rushes out _"_ _he knows about Green and Blue and White and,”_ she chokes on _"_ _Yellow. Oh_ God, _Hak, what will I do? What if he goes after them too?”_ She is crying again and all Hak can do is try to reassure her that, no matter how much of a monster their childhood friend is, even he wouldn't go that far. When she calms down he knows it's because she is remembering how kind Soo-Won used to be and as much as he hates it _if it stops her from crying and keeps her moving forward then that's enough_.

 

When the priest tells them to go looking for the four dragons of legend, Hak doesn't think the Princess realizes but _King Hiryuu had_ red _hair and the four dragons were_ Green _and_ Blue _and_ White _and_ Yellow and _how is that possible how could it be possible_ but it would explain so much as to why the Princess had four soulmates when only one is rare enough. He keeps quiet though, because only a couple days ago she had woken in tears for them and since it seems they'll be tracking the so-called Dragons down anyway, if he's right then she'll find out soon enough.

 

They have to tell Yoon about soulmates and soulmarks when he asks what the green and blue marks on her are, because he saw them when he was treating her and _"_ _those don't look anything like any bruises I've seen, and they don't fit with the other bruises you’ve got, you know.”_ It's a good thing that he asks because the Princess seems to have nearly forgotten that not everyone knows and Hak wouldn't have even thought to tell this self-proclaimed pretty-boy.

 

It turns out that they do not have to tell him much, though. He's known about soulmates and soulmarks ever since he asked Ik-Soo about the purple marks that sometimes showed up on his skin. Ik-Soo told Yoon, as Yoon tells them now, that soulmates are given to those who have a high affinity with the heavens, that priests had soulmates and that it was because of the near-genocide of all the priests that soulmates are now considered so rare. Hak listens as Yoon and the Princess chatter and wonder what that means for her because she's _“certainly not a priest, after all.”_

 

When they find the first dragon, Hakuryuu, Kija, White Snake, he is not as either of them, nor Yoon, expect, honestly. He is full of pride of being a dragon, but he trembles and cowers when confronted by a mere bug. He offers Hak money to leave the Princess to him, but she is adamant that there is no point to gathering the Dragons if she does not have Hak by her side, and White Snake relents.

 

It isn't until that night, when the Princess is practicing archery again, that Hak remembers soulmates and soulmarks and _White_ because suddenly White Snake hisses and jolts awake, grabbing at the inside of his left elbow, which suddenly doesn't look as porcelain as the rest of his skin but _it's too dark to see_. The Princess hears him and comes back, asking what is wrong, and Yoon stirs awake as well just in time for all three of them to hear White Snake _trying to lie to the Princess what the hell._ With more pressuring and a couple gentle prods from the Princess, White Snake concedes, and tells them that _"_ _something just hurt my inner elbow, it is fine, it was probably just a,”_ he winces at the word, _"_ _bug.”_ The three are skeptical, but he does not sound like he is lying anymore and there is no point in pushing for more information in the middle of the night when it's possible he's telling the truth.

 

Hak pushes it to the back of his mind until midday the next morning because White Snake trips and the Princess lets out a startled sound and seems to reach instinctively for her left hand _which is the hand White Snake caught himself on_ and when Hak glances down at the Dragon he can see the inside of the dragon’s left elbow which is _red red red_ and he remembers how last night White Snake had reacted in pain to what seemed like nothing and how the Princess was practicing archery and when he glances at the inside of _her_ left elbow there is a bruise one might get from a rebounding bow and Hak remembers suddenly _sympathy pain_.

 

And for an instant he is five again, asking Mundok _"_ _why is the Princess sometimes green?"_ Mundok tells him to drop it, but he doesn't do so until he's cuffed on the head. He asks again every now and then for three years, but is told to drop it each time and resigns himself to never knowing, because if Mundok won't tell him then _who would_? Then he and Soo-Won notice the little blue mark on the Princess’s knee, and Soo-Won goes to ask Emperor Il, and the bubbly Emperor himself comes practically bolting over to look at the blue mark and Hak and Soo-Won listen as he reminds his daughter about _soulmates_ and _soulmarks_ and tells her that she has what seems to be three.

 

Hak went home that time wondering and curious, and finally he tried asking Mundok again because now he _knew_ about soulmates and soulmarks so _"_ _surely it wouldn't be so bad to have a bit more insight, yeah?”_ Mundok looked at him with such a put-upon expression, but finally answered his questions. Hak's main question was _"_ _why don't they bring the Princess's soulmates to the castle?”_ Mundok just huffed out a sigh and told his grandson that there was no way of knowing where those soulmates could be. _"_ _That's stupid”_ Hak had insisted. _"_ _Her soulmates could be anywhere, yeah, and they could be in Kuuto for all anyone knows_ _."_ And Mundok refutes his example with _"_ _sympathy pain”_.

 

When an injury is inflicted, if the two are near enough each other, then the one receiving the mark will feel the same pain at the same time as their soulmate who received the injury.

 

And Hak remembers all of this in an instant, and knows that his Princess needs to know what he just confirmed because she has _white_ on the heel of her left palm now and White Snake’s elbow crease is marred by a soft bruise the color of the Princess's sunrise hair. And his Princess, his _dense and innocent Princess_ he thinks fondly, would not figure it out until something very bad happened if he did not tell her. So Hak sidles up to his Princess, walking around White Snake who is getting to his feet, and nudges her with his elbow.

 

 _“What, Hak?”_ She grumbles, probably expecting him to nettle at her about squeaking at nothing, but he nudges her again and her purple eyes meet his while her face contorts with a pout. The pout fades when she finds him looking at her with a serious expression, and she watches as he gestures toward the now-standing Dragon. _"_ _White”_ is all he says, but it's not enough because her expression is now confused. He reaches for her left hand, which was cupped in her right and is now held in both of his, as he looks pointedly at the brand-new white mark on her hand, looks at White Snake, and then meets her now-widening eyes as he repeats solemnly  _"_ _White”_.

 

Her eyes search his for a split-second more, then they swing to pin White Snake with a stare that Hak can't see but for some reason is proud of when the older boy quails. She makes straight for the paling dragon, and even Yoon seems to be interested in this new development as the Princess stands before the _white_ haired male with a straight back and seems to tower over him even though she is seven inches shorter as she says, as simply as Hak had, _"_ _White”._

 

Hak almost feels sympathy for White Snake as a look of confusion completely engulfs his face as he says, questioningly _“I am the white dragon, yes?”_ Her expression must soften because White Snake relaxes slightly as she reaches for his left hand. He doesn't even attempt to resist, but still appears slightly confused as she holds his now slightly-bruised palm between them, and then extends her left palm to present to him (and to Yoon, who is watching attentively _but Hak can see in the way his eyes widen that he is catching on quicker than White Snake_ ), and White Snake looks between his bruise and the Princess's white mark with an expression of bewilderment as she repeats, just as Hak had, _"_ _White”_.

 

Hak has moved around them in time to see the Princess catch her lower lip between her teeth as she extends White Snake's arm further, examining the fading bright-red mark, and just as carefully extends her own arm further, showing an identical bruise that Hak can now easily identify as a bow-injury and _he'll have to make sure to fix the Princess's bow-posture later so she doesn't bruise herself like that again_ _because_ _he can remember how much those hurt_ , with the only distinguishable difference being that hers is black-and-blue like a real bruise.

 

White Snake's mouth falls open and he pulls the Princess into a hug as he mumbles things that Hak doesn't even try to understand or make out, simply watching as White Snake once again falls to sobs and his Princess tears up slightly as she beams out a sunshine smile. Even Yoon sniffles and wipes his eyes in the background. Hak can't understand what White Snake is saying, but he does hear it when his Princess mumbles _"_ _White”_ once more, and buries her head in White Snake's chest.

 

~

 

Before he and the Princess head down into the passage that Kija says is where the Blue Dragon is, Yoon looks back one more time to see the bright-red mark on Kija's left wrist, reflecting where the Princess had been grabbed and held by the villager from earlier. She says that she's fine, but the bruise on her right wrist looks even worse than the one on her left and Yoon figures it would be on Kija's right wrist too if it wasn't a _dragon_ _arm_.

 

The Thunder Beast hadn't been happy when he saw the bruises on the Princess's wrists, saying with a bitter look that it reminded him of something from too-long ago. When the Princess pressed him, he simply answered _'_ _Green’_ and she paled in response, neither of them elaborating for either Yoon or Kija.

 

The Princess's steps are straightforward and confident, whereas Yoon follows with the torch and enough jitters for both of them, but, as the genius pretty-boy, he hides it well. They descend at a remarkable speed and reach the cave-room that Yoon figures is their destination when he sees the masked-figure from before silhouetting the opposite wall. Yoon discovers he could've guessed that _this_ is the blue dragon if there'd been a line-up, considering _his hair’s_ blue _for God’s sake, are all the dragons color coded? How in the_ world _did they manage to fade into legend while sporting_ blue _and assumingly_ green _hair?_

 

But the masked man is crouched and acts like cornered prey as he bares his teeth at them and snarls and _points his sword at the Princess ohmyGod the Thunder Beast is going to_ kill _me_ and tells them to _"_ _leave”_ and Yoon follows the Princess as she retreats with a disappointed pout. Then they are trapped in corridors of rock, and fear for himself sets in now because _I always thought I'd die of hunger I don't want to die by suffocation I don't want to die at all oh God please._ Then Yoon and the Princess and Kija and the masked man and even _those stinking villagers_ work together and the Thunder Beast is hacking away (haha, Haking) at the other side and the wall between the fast-turning-stagnant air and the sky crumbles and Yoon can _breathe_ again, thank God.

 

It is later, when Kija comes down with a fever and the masked man gets his clothes wet retrieving a fish for Kija and must strip to dry off that two bright-red marks show themselves on his wrists, the right wrist even brighter than the left. Yoon sees the others notice it, because the Thunder Beast gets that bitter expression again before quickly looking away, Kija seems to be hovering around the Princess even more now, sometimes switching his attention to the still-shivering boy, and the Princess is chewing on her lip again when she looks at those marks on the new boy’s skin.

 

Yoon is the only one who does something productive when he pushes Kija into a cot because _"_ _stupid dragon you're sick we can't leave until you get better so stop exerting yourself”_ and he puts a poultice on the Princess's wrists because _the sooner it heals on her the sooner they'll disappear from Kija's and the masked man's wrists and the Thunder Beast will stop grimacing all the time hopefully_.

 

When the masked man is no longer the masked man and is Seiryuu, is Shin-Ah, is _Moonlight,_ the Princess takes Shin-Ah aside and tells him about _Blue_ and _Red_ and Yoon can hear faint crying sounds, but he knows it's all right.

 

~

 

After a lot of persistent prodding from Yoon and cross-examinations, it is discovered that, although White Snake and Shin-Ah are both the Princess's soulmates, only she is theirs. No white marks show on Shin-Ah, and blue does not touch White Snake's skin. They are not completely sure why, but Yoon’s hypothesis makes the most sense with _"_ _well the dragons made dragon warriors_ for _the king, the fact that there was four of them was incidental. There could've been two and there could've been eight and they still all would've created their warriors. The only deciding factor was Hiryuu himself.”_

 

The Princess protests this until she turns pink because _"_ _I'm not King Hiryuu”_ and _“you're being ridiculous, Yoon”_ but Yoon’s theory is sound and Hak is starting to believe it now and White Snake and Shin-Ah never doubted it from the beginning.

 

When White Snake announces that the next dragon they're to track down is the Green Dragon, the Princess's mood suddenly takes a dive. It worries White Snake and Shin-Ah, and Hak can see that Yoon is suddenly more nervous around him, so he imagines that he must be contributing to the dark atmosphere, but how can he help it when all he can see when he looks at the Princess and thinks of Green is _green covering every inch of her tiny body and forming manacles on her wrists and left ankle with only the color of moss and_ God _how doesn't that_ hurt _he's never had bruises that bad_ and when he told the Princess that she went to go speak to her father and threw a tantrum that lasted practically two months. Even with the _years_ of reprieve of the simple bruises of _a_ _ruffian she used to call them_ , even with all those years in-between then and now, at the prospect of actually _meeting_ Green, Hak knows both he and the Princess can only remember those green shackles and eyes surrounded by green instead of black _but still_ and how the only place where bruises never came from Green was on her right leg _and it makes so much sense dammit_.

 

The Princess's mood lifts when she sees the ocean for the first time, and Hak can feel the weight easing off his heart slightly at the sight of her awe.

 

Meeting the green-haired man in a foreign outfit is certainly not what Hak had intended to do when he volunteered to head into Awa by himself, not with Yoon's _'D_ _on't do anything to stir up trouble'_ and the Princess's _'_ _Hurry back'_ behind him. And as much as he doesn't exactly _regret_ saving that girl yesterday, he certainly is highly irritated at the fact that he'd run into this _idiot_ that dragged him to brothels _in broad daylight_ and questioned him without giving any of himself up and ditching him when the Princess came and _oh, God what have I done to deserve this, oh,_ Hiryuu _, he could still hear the Princess's innocent little_ 'You can just tell me when you want to come to these kinds of places' _and holy_ fuck _is it annoying that those words just seem to echo back in his ears._

 

It doesn't help matters at _all_ when the next day rolls around and the Princess's words have been added to with a _"_ _Even Hak has times when he wants to fool around with girls”_ and he is told that the reason they had come back so early yesterday was because the Dragons had tracked the newest one’s presence to _a pirate ship of all things, that's definitely his Princess's ruffian_. It is this day that finds them learning more about Yang Kum-ji, more about what that asinine _maybe-maybe-not foreigner_ had been talking about, and about the pirates that fight the slave traders _and he just_ knows _Green is in on it because wouldn't it figure that the Princess’s so-long-ago smug little prediction of_ 'they fight for justice, as befitting of my soulmate' _would come true._

 

Sure enough morning dawn lights the sky to see the Princess's left hand with a harsh green mark along the outside edge, and Hak can see her lips twitching when she sees it.

 

The twitching smile fades in the worst way possible when they see an officer beating up an innocent and _they can't do anything_.

 

And then there's the wanted posters and the foreigner’s _“I want you”_ and suddenly the foreigner isn't a foreigner but a _pervert_ and _geez can't he catch a break_ because right after learning that the pervert’s name is Jae-Ha, he also finds, along with the rest of the group, that he'd been meeting ( _unintentionally!!_ ) with the _Green Dragon_ for days.

 

Droopy-Eyes is the first and most adamant about not coming with them, and the Princess wouldn't dream of forcing him. But when they confirm that he's with the pirates, the Princess gets that look in her eye and he remembers how she held back her tears when they found that child dead and when she was told _'_ _We don't have the power to do anything right now'_ and isn't surprised when she tells Droopy-Eyes that she wants to meet his Captain.

 

Hak doesn't like it one bit when his Princess takes on the challenge of the Vanishing Cape, and he doesn't exactly know what this cliff is actually supposed to _look_ like, just that it's steep, but he starts feeling entirely justified in his misgivings when red marks start to blossom on White Snake's left hand and on both of Shin-Ah’s. In the end he is, of course, _entirely_ justified because when they see the _near-literal_ Vanishing _Cape_ , White Snake nearly faints and even their resident voice of reason Yoon is aghast.

 

But his Princess finds her way back with red eyes, wounds on her hands, and trembling legs and she _still_ has that fire in her eyes as she announces that she'll _"D_ _o it again, without help this time”_ and if this is what she looks like _with_ help then he kind of wants to sit on her like he used to do when they were little so she can't turn on her heel and take on that cliff again. He breathes a sigh of relief when that _insane but not_ completely _insane_ Captain says that she doesn't need to, that _"_ _People like you never abandon their comrades even when they're in the face of danger”_ and Hak kind of wants to throw something because _he could've told them that_ because _he still sometimes has nightmares of when she just_ had _to get herself involved in that fight where that_ idiot _second-son of the fire tribe_ kind of _had him on the ropes and she involved herself instead of staying hidden_ like she was told to _and got her hair chopped off and fell of a cliff (_ the fact that he fell too was incidental _)_.

 

When he talks to Droopy-Eyes later, he's irritated by _"_ _I don't think you genuinely desire her”_ , of course, but it's also the fact that the red marks on the Dragon’s hands seem to look more splotchy than before that sends him searching for his Princess. And if her _"_ _I wonder, did I become... a little closer to you, Hak?”_ cheers him up, then no one really needs to know.

 

The bad feeling Hak got whenever something involving danger happened to catch the Princess's eye came creeping up his back when human trafficking was first brought up in that brothel however many days ago. He didn't really _get_ why, but he thought he understood when the Princess asked to help the Pirate crew. But the creeping feeling just kept getting stronger, and for some reason it almost causes paranoia when he looks up from practicing with his quan dao to see that the Princess is gone and Droopy-eyes is nowhere to be seen. When he tries to ask about them casually, he is waved off with a _"_ _Yona's_ fine _, Thunder Beast. Geez, you'd think that you could trust her safety with one of those dragons at least.”_

 

But Hak remembers when she'd been trapped in a cave tunnel and it had taken him and two of those dragons to get her out, even if Yoon has forgotten, but he tries to stay calm because there is no use in worrying needlessly.

 

He should've known by now to listen to his instincts.

 

He almost isn't surprised when the Princess volunteers herself to infiltrate the human-trafficking merchandise. ( _He is, though. She's always taking him by surprise, and sometimes (_ most of the time _)_ _it's not in a good_ way).

 

When he confronts her, he thinks that, if all she has to talk her way through him is her fire-eyes, he can _probably_ convince her not to do this. She always was a stubborn brat, and it wouldn't be the first time that he managed to get her to back down or to apologize ( _even if those times_ were _rare occasions, they still happened_ ). And maybe he could've, if that had been her only weapon. But she talks about Emperor Il like she hasn't since she told him he must call her _Princess_ , and she speaks like a strategist and a leader and her fire-eyes burn bright as he realizes that those eyes had never belonged on the face of the spoiled princess she used to be.

 

And he realizes he wants to see more of this fire-eyed Princess because _he knew her when she was the spoiled daughter of a king and_ _he wants to know this confident, brave, princess that can lead people_ of _her own_ on _her own._

 

It's not long after the fight begins that his determination to let the Princess see this through successfully takes a sudden nose-dive, and it happens when he looks at the faces of White Snake and Droopy-Eyes _and of course Shin-Ah if he didn't wear that mask all the time_ and sees red bloom on their faces like the green ones he used to see on the Princess and a small part of him thinks of how ironic it is that he's seeing red on Green’s face in the same way green used to be on the Princess's.

 

But the larger part of him is more anxious to get to her because _what is happening they shouldn't have been hurt Yoon what happened this wasn't supposed to happen_. It certainly helps literally nothing when White Snake works himself into a frenzy when he sees Droopy-Eye’s face and nearly kills the mercenaries _they aren't supposed to kill_ but like Hak all he can think of is _Princess_ and _what happened?_ and _what went wrong?_ Shin-Ah says nothing, of course, but in between dishing out attacks that have become increasingly violent he glances around even more, hoping for the sight of the firework.

 

And _of course_ Droopy-Eyes _doesn't know_ and _of course_ he's _confused_ but there's really no answering him because it is the Princess's story to tell and they can't just _tell him_ why his face looks like it was spattered with bright red paint and matches so perfectly with the other dragon whose face he can see, so _obviously_ it's both of the dragons and he doesn't understand _why-_ but he is too busy fighting to really ask and they are preoccupied enough with fighting to use it as an excuse.

 

They manage to ignore him for the most part, but Hak is not too busy fighting to worry, and he can't be completely relieved when the firework seemingly goes off because Shin-Ah and Droopy-Eyes set off to find the Princess because _he has to stay here like a good boy with White Snake even when he can see yet another dawn-red mark stamp itself onto White Snake’s face and_ oh God don't take her away from me-

 

When the fighting is over, it is because his Princess has sent an arrow through the chest of Kum-ji, and Hak concedes that if the Princess killing someone was unavoidable ( _and it had been. It had been since the first time she asked to learn to use a sword and he'd still given her a bow instead_ ), then Kum-ji is not a bad first-kill. She wouldn't _shouldn't_ lose any sleep over killing a monster like that.

 

Then he is over the awe of his Princess striking the finishing blow to end the fight because _the Princess is_ covered _in bruises and shit Yoon doesn't look any better._ But then they are celebrating and everyone is laughing and even the fading red marks on the Dragons’ faces and the bruises on the Princess's and the incidental speckles of white and blue and green scattered lightly over her skin doesn't seem to dampen spirits, although that dark slash of green on the back of her right shoulder would worry him if he didn't know it was already fading. Droopy-Eyes seems to have dropped the subject of matching red face patterns between the Dragons for now in favor of drinking and laughing and making merry. It is this time that Hak is glad that only the quietest dragon can see the green on her shoulder through her dress because if it was Droopy-Eyes he definitely wouldn't have dropped the subject, even temporarily.

 

Then Hak is waking up the next day to find that the Princess is missing, but he doesn't panic this time because _surely_ _the danger has passed_ , and simply sets off to find his wayward Princess.

 

He wishes he'd set off sooner and faster when he finds her kneeling and crying in the way he hadn't seen in such a long time, the kind of crying that is painful and all-encompassing and needs to be let out. So Hak kneels next to her because no attendant can stand while their Princess kneels and thinks murderous thoughts towards Soo-Won because no matter how much it doesn't make sense he is the only one who's ever made this girl cry like that.

 

He follows her as she makes her way back to camp and it is obvious that she has not mentally left that spot because he catches her when she trips over nothing, and she burns her hands but brushes it off with a smile ( _it hurts he can tell because Droopy-Eyes is within eyesight and Hak sees him jerk awake and both he and White Snake instinctively grasp at their palms that have red marks that are newer than the marks on their faces_ ), and he stops her from _stripping in public_ Princess you need to calm down _he wants to say, but how can he tell her to calm down when he carries around his quan dao once more with blood-lust written in his memories in the shape of the Princess's tears and tinged with the bitter taste of betrayal?_

 

They leave Awa after the Princess finds a mother in the Captain and as long as she is back to normal he will drag around the three idiots with tear-swollen eyes without complaint. Then it turns out Droopy-Eyes has decided to come with them after all because Shin-Ah cuts a tree out from under him and _why is Hak not surprised? Droopy-Eyes always had an inclination towards theatrics_. And the Green Dragon, Ryokuryu, the pervert, Droopy-Eyes, _Green_ , Jae-Ha officially joins their _not-so-little-anymore_ group.

 

It is after the fiasco with the love potion which apparently Hak was missing for the important part with the Princess and White Snake that the topic of the matching red marks is brought up again. The Princess asks to speak with Droopy-Eyes privately, and he complies ( _with a grin aimed Hak's way, what does he_ think _will happen? The stupid dragon_ ). It doesn't matter that they are in private though because the Princess's crying reaches the four of them and Hak is the only one of them who knows why it is pained this time instead of happy, and when Hak shifts an angle he can see where the Princess has buried herself in Droopy-Eyes’s chest and his _"_ _Yona, dear_ _"_ s reach back to them because he is still confused and she can't say anything through her tears and Hak knows why because he sees her hands rubbing Droopy-Eyes’s wrists like she can rub away those used-to-be permanent bruises that had been green and painless on her but black and chaffing on his. He sees Green look at him in almost a plea for help, or maybe half-expecting Hak to try and separate them but Hak turns and walks away ( _stupid dragon_ ) because this downpour of tears had been stoppered for thirteen years and Hak is honestly glad that the Princess can finally let it all out.

 

But her troubles are not over yet, it seems ( _of course not, they never are_ ), because in the middle of the night his Princess wakes up gasping tears and Hak feels a sense of déjà vu when he asks her, quietly, so as not to disturb the others ( _because the Princess wouldn't want that_ ) _"_ _what's wrong?"_ But she doesn't answer this time, doesn't even try to as she attempts to steady her breathing, but Hak knows _what's wrong_ when she rubs at her face and her arm and her _neck like there is a noose-shaped bruise around it_ and he knows that in her nightmare _memories_ those limbs are dyed in yellow and _he should've seen this coming_ because they've met White and Blue and _Green_ and they're searching for the dragons so _of course_ the _can't-be-dead_ Yellow reminds her of things best forgotten.

 

But then the _kid_ with a growling stomach is announced by _all three dragons they can't all be wrong_ to be Ouryuu and he doesn't even try to deny it and suddenly they are blindsided by the _newest member of their group_ who joins in less than a couple minutes, Ouryuu, the _Yellow_ Dragon, Zeno.

 

The Princess is more reserved around this one than she would be normally, and Zeno catches her staring often enough to reasonably be considered creepy, but no one says anything, and Zeno doesn't say anything even when he catches _Hak_ staring, and Hak knows he should _probably_ stop, but only a small part of him admits to that. The much larger part of him is too focused on _what the_ hell _happened to this kid four years ago because he doesn't have a single scar on his body that they have seen and by all reason he should be missing an_ arm. Zeno says that he's seventeen but Hak would've found it easier to believe that he is Yellow if he was _a child_ and had been _reincarnated or whatever Dragons do_ because going by the Princess's description _no one_ should've been able to survive what the Princess's soulmarks had described then. ( _Hak had honestly started to think that the fact that, according to the Princess, yellow had covered her from the neck up meant that Yellow had been_ decapitated _but proof otherwise looks at him with a boyish face and blue eyes._ )

 

Sometimes, when Zeno fumbles around and doesn't catch himself in time and face-plants in the dirt, Hak will turn to look at the Princess and _maybe there's some yellow on her face but it_ could _just be the light or the tan she's getting he can't be sure_ and whenever he gets a closer look there's nothing there but he can't be sure if it's because _Zeno_ isn't _Yellow_ or if it's because it has already healed, because Hak remembers how pale the Princess had been when she whispered _'_ _it barely took an hour'_ to heal when it had been _that_ bad.

 

The other three don't bring up soulmarks around Zeno. Hak can tell that Droopy-Eyes is _pretty much_ trying to avoid the topic and it's probably because he doesn't want to remember those shackles he seems to feel every time he sees the sadness in the Princess's eyes. Shin-Ah just keeps quiet like usual, and Hak doesn't know _what_ is keeping White Snake quiet about it but he is and Hak is grateful for it. Hak isn't even sure Zeno _notices_ the occasional speckles of white and blue and green on the Princess, and the Princess has gotten better at archery so there is not even a single spot of red on any of the dragons for Zeno to notice and speculate on.

 

But then the matter of _Yellow_ is pushed out of his head because suddenly they are the _Dark Dragon and the Happy Hungry Bunch and by God he wants to laugh at the ridiculousness of it all but his Princess is back and channeling that_ insane but not _completely_ insane _Captain and they are claiming towns under the most ludicrous name possible but when the officers try to fight back they_ fall _before his Princess_.

 

And then he's off to Shuu Village with White Snake and _ugh why is he always paired with this idiot_ but he thinks the Princess will be safe because Shin-Ah is there and Shin-Ah has always seemed reliable.

 

He thinks to himself that _maybe he really should start insisting to be with the Princess at all times_ because suddenly there is a bright-red mark bursting to life on White Snake’s right cheek and somehow it's with an odd sense of déjà vu that he spews curses in his head and wonders violently _"_ _what the_ hell _happened”_ with _“Shin-Ah?”_ ’s name on his tongue instead of Yoon’s _._ And it takes him less than a second to process this and start racing back to his Princess. He figures that White Snake must've found a reflective surface or something because it's not at all long after he took off that he hears pounding footsteps behind him and knows _White_ is right on his heels.

 

When he reaches the Princess's side once more, he notices offhandedly that Yoon must've done the same as he had when seeing the red mark that has already disappeared from Zeno and White Snake’s face, because he is arriving when they are, and he thinks _well, Zeno is definitely Yellow_ , but when they get there the Princess's bruise has already healed and now he is more worried about Shin-Ah because the Princess is fine but Shin-Ah is cradled in her lap and not moving.

 

Then they are told about the Blue Dragon’s power ( _paralysis_ ) and how it is a double-edged sword and it makes more sense now. Hak knows it's bad form but when he sees the wound on Shin-Ah’s stomach all he can think of is _how close was the Princess when this happened?_ and _did she feel it?_ and when he asks her quietly later her eyebrows pinch together and she purses her lips and that has always been her way of saying _yes but I don't want you to know_ and all he thinks of next is _sympathy pain is a bitch_.

 

( _Hak wonders when one of the villagers in Katan will mention to Droopy-Eyes that_ "that red mark on your face healed awfully fast” _because everyone else has beaten the Dragon built for speed back to her so he must not know._ )

 

Later he watches her fire-eyes burn bright again when she insists on learning swordsmanship. He traps her in a corner, forcing her to choose between relenting and _ordering him_ , and he knows she hates doing that and hopes she will back down, but after a hesitant look passes over her face, her fire-eyes are back and she says _“Teach me the sword. That's an order”_ and he kneels at her command.

 

But he stalls her and she relents with the knowledge that he's agreed to teach her. And then he thinks of how she'll be even more in the thick of things in fights than he _ever_ wanted her to be and realizes that _she'll be nearer the Dragons in fights_ and he has to confirm something.

 

 _“You know about sympathy pain, right?”_ He asks her in one breath, because he made a reference to it earlier and she'd seemed to have understood, but he'd learned of sympathy pain from Mundok and he remembers at how much she'd had to push Emperor Il for information before he'd relent and if she didn't know what it was then she wouldn't have been able to push for it. She is quiet for a moment after his question, thinking, and he can feel nerves tensing in his shoulders because _could she not know_?

 

But then she asks if he's referring to the fact that she feels pain when she is near one of the Dragons when they are hurt and he nearly breathes a sigh of relief when he says _"_ _yeah, that's what I meant."_ Then she says _"_ _I didn't know there was a term for it, though”_ , and his head swings up from how he'd let it fall to look at her with wide eyes. _"_ _How did you know about it, then?”_ He asks, and she wrinkles her nose at him like she always did when she was thinking _I shouldn't have to tell you_ and- _of course_ what kind of _idiot_ was he, because _obviously_ _she_ felt _the pain_.

 

Her father hadn't told her about it, she says plainly when he presses for information, she'd simply figured it out for herself. It had taken a bit, but she _"_ _knew for a fact a couple of days after meeting Jae-Ha”_ and he asks her if it was because of the battle with Kum-Ji’s mercenaries and she gets that look on her face again where she doesn't want to tell him something, which he finds rather confusing because that usually means it's something she knows he won't like. He tries to press her but she keeps that stubborn look on her face and shakes her head. _"I_ _t wasn't the fight"_ she mumbles, but now he is even more curious and she has become even more stubborn.

 

He realizes that she won't tell him no matter how hard he presses at the same time that he starts to wonder something else, so he drops that question and asks his new one. _"_ _Do the Dragons_ _know about it too?”_ And he knows the answer as soon as the words leave his mouth because he thinks of how reckless White Snake is in battle and how Droopy-Eyes is always eager to jump into a fight and _knows_ that if they knew they would not do so.

 

 _“Don't you dare tell them”_ she forbids sharply, because it must be obvious that he's considering the idea. When he asks her _"_ _why?”_ , her fire-eyes glow and she glares at him and grits out _"_ _they are their own and they must not hold themselves back for my sake."_

 

She turns on her heel and stalks back to where everyone is sleeping before he can say anything else.

 

Then sympathy pain is the _last_ thing on his mind because the stupid _idiotic_ second son of the fire general comes around and how he _wishes_ he could gut him because the last time he'd seen him he'd had the Princess by a handful of her hair and _damn it he couldn't do anything._ But the signal flare lights up and Yoon is saying _"_ _Don't kill him”_ and Hak grits his teeth in irritation because _"_ _Shooting the signal flare was an accident! I'll go stop the troops, so please! Release me!”_ pours from this guy's mouth and _does he really think they'll believe that_.

 

But then Zeno tells him _"_ _The miss is the liveliest of us all!”_ and the idiot starts crying in relief and his tears and snot are all over his face when the Princess tells him to lift his head and Hak wonders when the Princess had managed to wrap _him_ so tightly around her finger too.

 

He's not as amused when the Second-Son Idiot starts showing up _daily_ because it's annoying and doubly so because he's always looking at the Princess with eyes filled with awe and it's irritating to say the least. But _that Idiot’s_ starting to learn and he's growing into something maybe _slightly_ less of an idiot but it irritates Hak even more because he's unwillingly reminded of how the Princess used to be and how she is now and admits to himself that _even the_ stupidest _of idiots can get a bit better_ he supposes.

 

And when the Second-Son starts establishing the clinics to help the villages heal, Yoon says that The Happy Hungry Bunch is not needed here to protect the villages from officials anymore. That he wants to look into getting a crop the tribes can plant to get moving again, and they all set up to leave Kouka for now.

 

While waiting for Yoon to decide on a place to go, Hak is reminded of _soulmates_ and _soulmarks_ because the bruises the Princess gets from sword training show up in bright red on the four dragons and he can tell she doesn't like it but they don't say anything and the two of them practice far enough away that they don't feel sympathy pain and _it's necessary._ Zeno still doesn't say anything so Hak still doesn't know if he's figured it out, but _he has to suspect_ something _by now, right?_ But he says nothing and no one brings it up so it's left alone, and the Princess gets better at blocking so there's less bruises all around, and calluses have formed so there is no longer red on the Dragons’ palms when Hak and the Princess return from training each day.

 

( _Calluses have formed, oh God sometimes he feels like stopping everything and just_ apologizing _to Emperor Il because he never wanted his daughter to handle a weapon and now she has calluses from wielding a bow and a wooden sword so often._ )

 

When he has the nightmare for the first time, the Princess's _"_ _Let's go kill Soo-Won”_ and her _"Hurry let's go avenge my father”_ echoing in his ears and the image of Soo-Won _swinging his sword down towards the Princess_ engraved in his eyes, he wakes up drenched in sweat like he hasn't in awhile. But then he manages to accidentally find Zeno in the moonlight, and when Zeno says that the four dragons are replaceable Hak says that they are not, because they are not just the four dragons, they are his Princess's _White_ and _Blue_ and _Green_ and _Yellow_ and the one speaking to him right now made her cry in fear and worry _before_ _she'd even met him_ and Hak sometimes dreads the possibility of them dying because if she cried like that _then_ how will she fare _now_?

 

Then the Princess manages to find _him_ with a loquat in her hand and _"_ _You can do things you like more often”_ falling from her lips like flower petals and he calms down from his nightmare when he takes advantage of that and kisses her eye. He can't stop himself from chuckling because _that was_ _certainly not what she had in mind_ and this time it is _her_ standing there shell-shocked for once after who-knows- _how_ many times she has done the same to him.

 

When she gets slightly more defensive and agitated the next day whenever he's near her, he supposes he should've seen it coming.

 

Then they are at the village in the Sen Province of the Kai Empire and with Hak's help Yoon convinces the Princess to dance for the festival and for the iza seeds that might be what they came here for. But Hak supposes he went too far when somehow the name _"_ _Soo-Won”_ comes out of the Princess's mouth and his mood is instantly trampled and he only has himself to blame because _he_ knew _the Princess practiced dancing so much just for_ him and then _Yoon finds the_ stupid hairpin _and dammit-all_.

 

When she dances with the sword instead of the fan like she used to, he wonders what she's thinking. Because it must mean _something_ and he has no way of knowing what is going on inside her head.

 

But it's the morning again soon enough and apparently the universe doesn't think he's been through enough because the village girls come tumbling in through the flap of the tent in time for the Princess to see and say _"_ _Take your time”_ and _"_ _you can cut loose after all”_ and he hasn't felt _this_ irritated since Awa and he _kind of_ has the urge to punch Droopy-Eyes in the face.

 

Thankfully those lines are forgotten when one of the women says the word _"_ _soldiers”_ but then his Princess is rushing off and _come back here soldiers are more dangerous to you than to them_ he wants to say but just shuts his mouth and follows. But the soldiers are not from Kai, they're from Saika and- _what are they doing here?_ And when the group meets up again after separating to spy the Princess tells them that _"_ _Something is amiss”_ and says _"_ _Let's go back to Kouka.”_

 

But things are going from bad to worse because when they are hunting for answers in Saika they hear of _"_ _an army of ten-thousand men marching from the Sen Province”_ and _what the_ hell _is going on?_ Because every piece of information that is brought running to the gossips in this hovel is that _"_ _the invading army is getting closer to Saika”_ and _"_ _the invading army has broken through the impenetrable Fort Rokka”_ and then _"_ _the General has ridden out to back up the Kah-Sho Fort”_ and then almost too soon to be believable _"_ _the Kah-Sho Fort is under attack and the invading army has split to continue towards Seika while fighting the General”_ and they all agree that _"_ _Things are moving too quickly.”_

 

Then they send Shin-Ah out with Droopy-Eyes to get a scope of the situation outside and the two come back with news that _"_ _Kah-Sho Fort has fallen”_ and _"_ _the General is calling for reinforcements and retreating”_ and strangest of all that _"_ _there is no battle taking place outside the walls of Saika."_

 

Then his Princess says with an expression like steel _"_ _We will scatter the 2000 soldiers outside of Saika”_ and he smirks because _there's his Princess_.

 

But after wreaking a bit of havoc among the 2000, it turns out the General isn't heading back to Saika after all but to Hiryuu Castle and he hates to say it but in the end he says point-blank _"_ _The Fire General has joined forces with an enemy country... and are currently after... Hiryuu Castle and Soo-Won’s head”_ which is a fancy way of saying _their end game is the entirety of Kouka._

 

But the Princess insists on interfering because _"T_ _he Fire General’s actions will plunge this country into chaos”_ and because _“I will not ignore it."_ But they don't actually get involved with _the battle_ because they are too busy protecting the innocent villagers from retreating Sen Province soldiers and blocking off the Sen Province’s Leader’s intended ( _read:_ violent) escape route.

 

And then the Princess heads out to try to talk sense into the Fire General’s head _which is a hopeless cause honestly_ but she tries nonetheless. But when he insists on being obtuse the Princess's _"_ _You are not fit to be king”_ rings out and sends shivers down Hak's spine because _she of all people would know._ Then, when they are the main target of the Fire General's wrath, the Princess seems to stop fighting and when Hak turns to see why because _Princess we are in the middle of a_ battle _and you need to pay attention to those kinds of things_ but then he sees Soo-Won on horseback and _oh._

 

And he sees red.

 

But the Princess orders a retreat and Hak can do nothing but obey even though the echoes of the Princess's crying and the words  _"I_ _was never the Soo-Won you knew to begin with”_ pound in time with the blood in his ears.

 

Once they are away from the battle Hak can finally see through his bloodlust and realizes that, while Zeno and Yoon did an excellent job of making sure not a scratch fell on the Princess, the same did not hold true for the three dragons whose colors she now wears. Green is, as it always has been, the most prevalent, but blue gives it a run for its money while white is not that far behind. When Zeno and Yoon are off to get water to clean wounds, White Snake apologizes for letting white imprint itself on her skin, and Shin-Ah seems remorseful when tracing a blue mark with a hesitant finger, and Droopy-Eyes addresses the green by offering to kiss them better. But the Princess brushes them off with _"_ _it’s fine they're just colored marks”_ and only Hak sees the warning look she shoots at him because they both know that _when she received them they weren't just marks but colored wounds_ and all Hak can do is stare at them in speculation of how much _pain_ she must've felt and nailed down behind gritted teeth and taut bowstrings, and thinks that Zeno managed to keep the Princess from getting injured, yes, but his main accomplishment was keeping red marks from appearing on the Dragons.

 

And because the Princess is not hurt, she turns Yoon away when he goes to check on her and she is wrapped in her cloak where no-one but Shin-Ah can see the marks that decorate her and she stays like that for however long it takes _almost a whole day_ for the marks to fade into her skin.

 

They go to the market and it's like everything is _normal again_ , and he watches the Princess's eyes rove around the stalls because she hasn't seen anything like this since that time they had snuck her out into the streets of Kuuto but that hadn't ended well and _it would this time_. Then he gets some spending money from Yoon and invites the Princess along with him and they browse and _find the archery range_. Then Hak bets on the Princess with all he's got and laughs with pride when _"_ _I bet she misses”_ and _"_ _I bet she'll cry and run home”_ is _smashed_ by her _hitting bullseye, God_ and _"_ _Isn't she amazing?! My young lady!”_ pours from his mouth because she can't be his _Princess_ in front of all these people _but she sure showed them_ and his laugh is as loud as it used to be.

 

It's a couple of nights later that the Princess sits up when he is on watch and she is heaving lungfuls of air through her mouth and tears pour silently, and he almost gets up but he is recognizing this pattern now because she's rubbing at her face and arm and _neck_ again and now she looks wildly around until she spots Zeno, who is curled up and deep asleep right next to her. Hak watches without being sure the Princess knows he does while she traces the air that is a hairs-breadth away from Zeno's neck and seems to reassure herself that _it's fine, Zeno is fine,_ Yellow _is fine_ before curling forward into Zeno's arms so she can try to go back to sleep.

 

And so they head to Shisen, the port town where there's rumored to be trouble afoot.

 

And Droopy-Eyes tries to convince Hak to go with him to a brothel _what is it with Droopy-Eyes and brothels??_ but Hak puts his foot down. Droopy-Eyes goes off on his own and they all sit and wait in the small room they've rented until Zeno suddenly says that _"_ _Ryokuryu’s presence feels strange”_ and White Snake and Shin-Ah agree with him so they set out into the rain. Only to find Droopy-Eyes _lying on the ground_ in the middle of the street and _what_ happened _?_ Then the Green Dragon goes through the most hellish withdrawal Hak's ever had the displeasure of watching and when he wakes up Hak is serious when he says _"_ _Even if you have a reason, you can't”_ because maybe next time they won't get there quickly enough and, to be honest, Droopy-Eyes is kind of starting to grow on him. Sometimes.

 

But then they learn about Nadai and they need more information so they have the Princess dance in the bar and _no, Hak doesn't like it at all but the Princess_ insisted _._ But then they see the girl too late to stop the violence before it starts and as the closest the Princess is the first to reach her because _of_ course _the Princess is the closest to the danger, it honestly doesn't even surprise him anymore_ , and even when he's rushing Hak is not fast enough to get there before red marks trace themselves faintly over the collarbones and right cheeks of the dragons and _there's probably more but_ their _clothing covers where her_ dancing outfit _doesn't_.

 

The marks are healed and he calms down by the time they question the addicts and discover the name of the store Droopy-Eyes was keeping quiet. And _somehow (_ thank God _)_ they manage to convince the Princess that going with them to a _brothel_ to investigate _drugs that cause violence_ would be a bad idea. So they leave her with Shin-Ah and Zeno and Yoon and the girl named Lili and her attendants ( _has he met them somewhere before?_ ) who seem reliable enough, and he tells the Princess to _"_ _Take it easy and wait”_ , and she should be safe.

 

She was _supposed to be_ safe.

 

But they come back to find Tetora in critical condition and he can't even bring himself to care that much because _the Princess was injured_ and the wound is _bad_ and she is _knocked-out_ unconscious and _why is he never there when these things happen, damnit?_ Somehow he'd managed to convince himself that he'd be able to tell if she was hurt as long as he was with one of the dragons but _how could he have seen_ this _injury when they wear clothes that cover the harsh red that is now engraved on the skin of their backs?_

 

( _Even overhearing Shin-Ah mumble quietly to Ao that he had_ “felt the sword come down on his back” _and_ “what does that mean?” _and_ “that doesn't make any sense” _doesn't draw his attention from his Princess who is lying face-down on the floor with bandages holding the wound together wrapped around her upper-body._ )

 

And then she wakes up and starts crying and says _"_ _You shouldn't always have to take responsibility for my wounds”_ and _of course_ that's what she's crying about because she manages to feel responsible and guilty for almost everything and _God_ he wishes she'd stop worrying about him. Because _she's too important to him_ for him to _not_ worry _and if she keeps feeling guilty about him worrying then it's going to be an endless cycle_.

 

Then they're chasing down the leader of the drug ring in Sensui and the drug-puppets are after the Princess _of course, because there's just never enough danger following her_. A fleet of ships is approaching from Southern Kai but they can't be sure why so Hak stays with Shin-Ah to prepare for the worst. Droopy-Eyes arrives with White Snake and Yoon and _who is guarding the Princess_ and he _really_ doesn't like it but Droopy-Eyes tells him that there are skilled fighters near her and they will not let anything happen to her, and White Snake says _"_ _Zeno swore on the name of Ouryuu”_ and he thinks of how Yellow has not marked her once since that time and seems to have survived something life threatening and he stays on the shore.

 

The battle is starting and _"_ _they're bringing_ girls _with them on their ships?” What kind of crack-pot thought_ this _up?_ And Droopy-Eyes says it's someone who seems to have experience in commanding and that it's someone Droopy-Eye’s instinct says that they can trust. The crack-pot also seems to have come up with the idea to disguise the Water Tribe Soldiers as pirates ( _which in hind-sight is freakishly smart and a sinking feeling is forming in his gut because_ he's only ever known one person that can come up with such crack-pot ideas that are actually really smart and _it couldn't be-_ ). But then-

 

Thunder Beast?

 

_Thunder Beast??_

 

_No._

 

 _He can't hear anything from the outside world. He can't feel the pain of the dagger that he rips out of his tendons._ 'You may try asking Princess Yona. Because she witnessed the death of the Emperor with her own eyes.' _Soo-Won._ The emptiness in the doll-like Princess's eyes. _Step_. _Step. He doesn't hear the screams of agony from_ Soo-Won _'_ _s bodyguards. Doesn't feel the_ scratches _old-man Joo-Doh places on him. Doesn't hear the agonized hacking from old-man Joo-Doh when Hak sends him to the ground. He is just one step and another step closer to_ him _._

 

_“Get out of my way.”_

 

 _“_ Our _side??”_

 

_“Let me go.”_

 

_“LET ME GO!!!”_

 

They were children once, the three of them. Laughing and happy.

 

_“HE IS THE ONLY ONE!”_

 

It should have been different. IT WOULD HAVE BEEN DIFFERENT.

 

But- _"_ _Hak. It's all right. I'm all right.”_

 

He stops.

 

The next morning begins with bed rest and Yoon's _"_ _what are you doing idiot, stop moving around”_ and White Snake is acting weirder around him than usual. Then Hak gets quiet because he sees the bruise on the Dragon’s face and is starting to remember how much _damage_ he'd inflicted on his companions. When White Snake leaves the tent Hak tries to breath around the knot in his throat because _how colorful is the Princess_ because of him _now?_ and _she'd definitely felt everything_ and oh _God_ he may very well be sick.

 

It would explain why she hasn't come to see him yet when she's always been fussing over him right by his side whenever he got so much as a scratch.

 

So he disobeys Yoon's order of _"_ _stay still”_ and goes looking for the Princess and finds her gathering firewood, her face laced with traces of white and green and his chest tightens because _it was his fault this time it was all him._ But she sees his gaze map out the marks and her face tightens in a small scowl and when he opens his mouth to apologize she pins him with _such a look_ that his mouth snaps shut because _she won't hear a word of apology_.

 

But he takes her armful of firewood from her because it is the most she'll allow him to do and even _that_ takes some convincing because _"_ _The wound on your arm. It still hasn't healed at all."_ But he _does_ convince her, and then when he chuckles she cries and _apologizes why is she apologizing,_ he _should be apologizing-._ She says she is always showing him her weak side when she _has_ no weak side, but he knows he can't convince her of _that_ so he wraps his arm around her and tells her _"_ _I don't see a thing”_ and she surprises him by wrapping her arms around him in a way she hasn't done in _how long again?_

 

Then they head into Southern Kai to drop off the kid that had found himself on the wrong side of the river when Shin-Ah sees _“one-hundred soldiers coming”._ But then suddenly White Snake comes down with a fever and now _they're_ stuck on the wrong side of the river. And something bad stirs in Hak’s gut because Droopy-Eyes comes down with whatever White Snake has, and Shin-Ah says he sees a battle _“with lots of soldiers”_ after they're told to leave the town. And then Shin-Ah’s down too, and _this is not good_ because Hak’s the only fighter that's not down with whatever illness that's got the three Dragons and with the word _“battle”_ looming over them and the Princess's propensity for _unintentionally_ drawing trouble, there's a bad taste in his mouth.

 

But the Princess talks about _war_ and _justification_ and she says _"_ _I can't bring myself to side with either Kouka or the Kai Empire”_ and he looks at her in awe because _she has_ truly _become a fine leader_. And because the _spoiled, clueless princess from that time so long ago_ has grown enough to know that there is no such thing as a good side and a bad side in a war, that there is only the ones who profit and the ones who suffer, and he knows first-hand that there are war-heroes who live their entire lives without learning that fact.

 

But then the army that Shin-Ah spotted somehow finds its way to where they are and proves his gut feeling right _because why not._ And he's telling the Princess to _"_ _take everybody and run_ _”_ because _he's the only one who can fight_ and when she looks at him with tears in her eyes he kisses her cheek then apologizes because _it might be the last time he ever sees her._ God _don't let this be the last time he ever sees her._ And he lays a carpet of blood down on this ground because _he can't leave a single one_ and because _he has to give them as much time to run as he can._

 

The three death-tottering morons join the battle once he can't raise his arms anymore, and he's torn between being relieved that they're here and being angry that they're risking their lives like this ( _which is the one he's leaning towards_ ), as a small part of him prays desperately that the Princess will stay far enough away to not experience sympathy pain, because if she does it will definitely be hell with the way this battle’s going.

 

But _everything is already going to hell_ because he can't tell if she's far enough away but he _can_ see the soldiers that are galloping towards his Princess as she stands there _with her bow drawn why hadn't he started teaching her how to use the sword_ sooner and _he can't get there in time- they can't get to her in time._

 

Then Zeno is there and _maybe he can do something maybe_ Yellow _-_

 

 _He's slashed on the back of his shoulder, and his arm hangs limply. (_ He's too close to her. _)_

 

_Yellow-_

 

_He is stabbed through the chest._

 

 _Oh,_ God _._ Zeno _._

 

Everyone is frozen in time when Zeno falls, his blood painting the Princess's face, and Hak would expect a scream of anguish from anyone in her situation but he can see her eyes even from so far away and he can tell that she's currently reliving her worst memory (' _She witnessed the death of the Emperor with her own eyes.'_ ) and is too preoccupied with the past and with Zeno to process the stab wound that she'll feel later.

 

( _Or will she feel it? They don't know enough to know if sympathy pain covers death-blows_.)

 

But Zeno stands once more, fully healed, and _what?_ ( _He hears Zeno's_ “If Ouryuu, your shield, protects you... You will never be injured.” _and at the same time that he starts connecting the dots between_ Yellow _and_ “The Ouryuu... won't die.” _, Hak finally confirms that_ Zeno doesn't know about sympathy pain _and that_ the Princess will _definitely_ feel whatever happens to Zeno _because it takes an hour for Yellow’s_ soulmarks _to fade even_ if _it only takes a minute for Yellow’s_ wounds _to heal._ )

 

Zeno is stabbed through the heart and the Princess catches him with one arm while her other hand clutches at her own heart and _Hak_ needs _to get to her_ and _this is almost worse_. Because then both of Zeno's arms are sliced off and a tiny voice says _'_ _my entire arm was yellow'_ in his head and Zeno doesn't look back to see his Princess's face spasm in pain while he asks to borrow her sword.

 

Then the severed arm plunges into the enemy soldier as if it has strings attached to it and Zeno still controls it even though _it's severed_ and Hak thinks for the first time that _truly the Dragons are not human._

 

 _Zeno's face is sliced and he doesn't blink an eye but the Princess clutches her face and Hak knows that_ Zeno is still not far enough away _._

 

_He is run through with swords sheathed in him every which-way._

 

( _Zeno, the Princess_ feels _this stop being reckless-_ )

 

_His head is chopped off._

 

_The Princess screams in agony._

 

Zeno is standing again even before the Princess stops screaming, but when her scream tapers off Hak can see _tears coursing down her face and his mind supplies the choked sobs she always muffled whenever she woke from a Yellow nightmare_ while his eyes see her hands clutching at her neck and he remembers _the Princess massaging her face and neck as if willing not-there yellow marks to fade away_.

 

Then swords stop cutting Zeno because he grows scales and _"_ _You can't pierce me anymore"_ and all Hak can think is _thank_ God _-_

 

Hak is not surprised when, after the soldiers retreat, they all rush to Zeno's side. He goes too, because _he_ is _glad that Zeno's all right, he_ is, but he's also worried about the Princess who has just felt the pain of three different deaths in less than ten minutes along with Zeno and _she is only human_.

 

Zeno seems surprised at first that they all cling to him, which Hak thinks is _stupid as all hell_ , but accepts the warmth of their hugs with their relieved tears and _"_ _You're all adorable."_

 

It's when they pull away that Zeno sees the Princess's face, and how she is drenched in yellow, because it overwhelms all the white and blue and green. His lips form into a confused frown and his eyes look regretful as he thumbs away the blood _his blood_ on her cheek gently and asks _"_ _these haven't healed yet?”_ Everyone stills because no one knew he knew about soulmarks and no one had ever said anything about them to him. _"_ _You know what these are?"_ the Princess asks him and he nods, and says _"_ _I'll explain later"_ and they leave it at that for now.

 

Hak needs to talk to the Princess, but every time he sees her she is not alone and _he_ needs _to talk to her alone_. But he doesn't even try dragging her off because _not alone_ mostly means she is with Zeno at all times, and Hak wouldn't try to separate her from him even if he could because _only a couple days ago she woke from a Yellow nightmare that she's had for_ years _since before she'd even_ met _Zeno,_ and now she has witnessed Yellow’s death _three times_ with her own eyes and Hak knows she needs to reassure herself that Zeno- _Yellow-_ is _fine_.

 

Zeno answers their questions about _"_ _How old are you?_ _”_ and _"_ _Are you the first generation?"_ , and then tells them that he knows about soulmarks because it was the same with King Hiryuu. In battles, King Hiryuu would wear their colors _"_ _only ever white and blue and green, really, Zeno didn't have to fight when the other three were around”_ on his skin and Hiryuu used that to tell when the Dragons were lying about not needing to be healed. _"_ _Zeno was surprised when red appeared occasionally after the miss was born"_ Zeno adds casually, as if the thought only occurs to him now, _"_ _the original Dragons always protected King Hiryuu so rigorously that the King never once had even a slight bruise."_

 

( _That explains why Zeno never found out about sympathy pain. If that was the case then Hiryuu_ himself _would've needed to tell the original Dragons about it, and if he was anything like the Princess (_ she is his reincarnation. Who is he kidding? _)_ _then Hiryuu obviously took that secret to the grave._ )

 

But Hak can't let the Princess follow in her predecessor’s footsteps because _Zeno knows from the start what his power can really_ do _this time around and he is_ obviously _ready and willing to use it_. And the fact that Zeno didn't know the extent of his power until not long before the King died probably means that Hiryuu didn't feel death as much ( _if ever_ ) as _his Princess would if this continues_. Because _there's just never enough danger following her_.

 

He corners her that night because _it cannot wait any longer_ , and from the expression on her face she knows what is coming and is not happy about it. But maybe she understands how much this needs to be said- _maybe just a little-_ because she does not try to avoid him any longer.

 

 _"Before you ask,"_ she begins, because he was waiting for her to start, _"_ _I'm perfectly fine. No need for concern._ _"_ He just stares at her until she shifts her weight and then he says, finally, _"_ _you weren't fine when you got those marks"_ ( _because even though yellow has gone from her skin by now, white and blue and green are still traced there_ ), and she tenses a little. _"_ _I'm fine_ now _”_ she mutters tersely, toeing the dirt underneath her shoe like a child caught misbehaving, _"_ _so you don't have to worry."_

 

She's obviously hoping that this will end the conversation, but even though he stays silent for a while, when she tries to creep away he pins her under a stare that he knows for a fact ( _because he's been told countless times_ ) is ice and steel and she avoids his gaze like she used to when they were kids.

 

( _He thanks every deity listening that he_ is _her childhood friend because if he hadn't been then she really_ would have _been able to take this secret to the grave with her._ )

 

He finally breaks the silence with _"_ _either you tell them or I will”_ in a tone that brooks no argument, and she probably gets whiplash from how fast she swings her head up to look at him in disbelief.

 

 _"What-"_ she tries, but he keeps his stare fixed on her face because _he won't let her play dumb when it is this important_ and she stops mid-sentence, her face falling a bit. _"_ _I don't_ want _to tell them”_ she says with a distressed look on her face, so he says _"_ _then I will”_ and turns to leave. _"_ _Wait!"_ she pleads, and he does ( _of course he does, he will always wait_ ), as she grasps his overcoat in one fist like a lifeline ( _he has to mentally nail his feet to the ground in order to not instinctively turn to her. This is too important._ )

 

 _"I don't want them to know”_ she corrects herself, her voice sounding pained, and he stares straight ahead as he says _“they_ have _to know.”_ Her voice is weak when she asks _“why?”_ and he can almost hear the echoes of her 'Why?'s from when they were so much younger in his head. _“Because this can't continue”_ and “why??” is thrown back at him and he states, like the fact it is, _“you are too important”_ and her grip on his overcoat loosens.

 

He finally turns to look at her and her head is hanging once more. He lifts her chin with one finger so she is looking at him as he repeats “you are too important” because _he needs her to understand._ They are silent again for a while, and she is biting her lip, and he finally comments _"_ _they'd want to know”_ and her shoulders hunch under his words because they are the truth. _"_ _It would hurt them”_ she mumbles back, a quiet attempt at making him back down _but not this time_.

 

He doesn't reply to this for such a long time that she looks up at him through her eyelashes but she freezes when she does, and he wonders what exactly she sees on his face that makes her eyes widen like this. But all his mind can really focus on are the images running through his head that he is sure will be nightmare-fuel for _decades_ , because they are of what happened in the battle but instead of Zeno being ripped to pieces it is _his stubborn, fire-eyed Princess_ and he wrenches his eyes shut to try and block out the image of _her head rolling along the ground with her dawn-colored curls in an unkempt tangle_ like she always used to complain about _and only stopping when it bumps against his boot and stares at him with lifeless eyes_ but the image only gets clearer when his eyes close.

 

He opens his eyes again only to see her staring at him with horror and tears in her eyes, and he's already mentally exhausted when he reaches his hand out to brush the tears away before they fall. _"_ _You have already been hurt enough"_ he says quietly, and before she can open her mouth to protest _because of_ course _she would_ , he lets his hand fall slightly so that his fingers rest gently on the center of her chest. _"_ _Already,_ _"_ he repeats, as soft as he can, and, carefully, his fingers trace the places that Zeno had been stabbed and hurt and that she had felt with him, _"_ _you have been hurt"_ he gently massages the lines around her upper arms that those yellow lines had begun from with his thumbs, _"_ _more than enough."_ He then shakily runs the back of his fingertips along the width of her neck, barely touching her at all, and she shivers slightly under the light pressure, closing her eyes.

 

 _"I don't want to tell them"_ she repeats even softer, and he can hear her voice almost break. _"_ _You don't have to"_ he tells her, wishing she didn't have to wear this face and speak in this voice, _"I'm willing-"_ but he stops when she shakes her head. _"If anyone_ has _to tell them, then it should be me"_ she sighs, her voice less broken now but still tinged in sadness, and he asserts firmly, _"then you will tell them”_ and she lets out a resigned sigh.

 

 _“No matter what?”_ she asks, and _“no matter what”_ he confirms. She then questions, almost irritably, _“even if I_ ordered you _to leave it alone?”_ And he forces his face to stay blank because _he's_ _thanking_ the heavens _that she phrased it like a question because if she actually_ had _ordered him then he would've had to go against almost everything in order to continue this, and he's not_ entirely _sure he would've been able to_. But what he _can_ do easily enough when necessary is lie to her, so he confirms _“even if you ordered me to leave it alone”_ and she lets out a dry laugh and mutters _“of course_. _”_

 

There is a prolonged pause after this, because his Princess is thinking very hard about something he's not entirely sure of, and he's waiting for her to say something more. _"It doesn't have to be tonight, right?"_ she asks hesitantly, and he examines her hopeful face, internally weighing _they are safe for now_ against _his Princess's talent for somehow calling for trouble from everything within the borders of_ Kouka, and states, _"you have three days"_. As much as the declaration leaves a sour taste in his mouth because _he shouldn't be the one giving orders- but this is_ important _-_ she nods in understanding with a( _n adorably_ ) determined expression on her face and the after-taste is less sour now.

 

He nods back and waits for her to release his overcoat, for her to leave first, but she lingers for a moment before blurting _"willyoubetherewhenItellthem?"_. He blinks, takes a second to decipher the question, then answers her question with another question because _"do you_ want _me to be there?"_. Slowly, almost shyly, she nods, and the hand that has stayed holding his overcoat through the majority of the conversation tightens slightly while she mumbles _"you don't have to say anything- just... to be there?"_

 

And he softens and remarks _"anything for you, Princess"_ , and she smiles.

 

She spends the entire next day acting totally normal, and not a word is spoken about _soulmarks_ and _sympathy pain_ , and when the next morning comes around and she asks Yoon if she can help with breakfast, he wonders if maybe he’d misread her determined expression and if she really intends to drag this out to the end of tomorrow.

 

But then, somehow, she gets Yoon to take Zeno away with him, and once they are gone she fists her hand in his overcoat once more and tells him under her breath that _"I'll tell Zeno later, without the others"_ and he understands.

 

( _He doesn't ask if she will tell Yoon. Even though Yoon would want to know, nothing would be gained from it but his worry and there is no_ need _for him to know like there is for the Dragons_.)

 

She asks White Snake and Shin-Ah and Droopy-Eyes if they can talk for a bit, and though they all seem confused, when they see how her hand is shakily clutching Hak's overcoat they do not ask why before agreeing and settling down in a group.

 

The Princess and Hak sit on one side of their mismatched circle while the other three sit across from them, waiting for her to speak. Hak wonders how she will begin.

 

 _"Kija,”_ she starts after a long pause, and after _“yes?”, “do you remember when I first told you that I was Red and that you were my White?”_

 

( _Ah,_ Hak thinks, _so this is how she will tell them._ )

 

_“Yes?”_

 

 _"Do you remember how, the night before, you woke up because suddenly your arm hurt?"_ White Snake protests with a _"I never said-"_ but is interrupted with a “Kija.” The next affirmative is mumbled. The other two are starting to look confused. _“Do you remember how, when you woke up, my soulmark was where your arm had hurt? And how, when I called you White, I showed you the bruise on my arm that was in the same spot?”_ White Snake’s _"yes?_ _"_ is more confused than ever. The Princess sits back and states, _“that's because, when your arm hurt in the middle of the night, it was because my bow rebounded when I was practicing archery.”_ A look of pained confusion is enveloping White Snake’s face, but the Princess has already turned to the next Dragon.

 

 _"Shin-Ah,"_ and the Blue Dragon startles badly, looking nervous when pinned with the Princess's serious expression, and looks around at Hak and the confused-looking Droopy-Eyes and White Snake who is having trouble focusing ( _he looks like someone trying to figure out the solution to a complicated puzzle, but does not have enough pieces in front of him to find the answer_ ), and the Princess waits patiently for Shin-Ah’s eventual

 

 _“Yes, Yona?”_ ( _Her expression softens substantially and he relaxes, and Hak wonders if he'd thought he was in trouble._ )

 

 _"Do you remember when I got hurt in Shisen?"_ They _all_ stiffen at this question, the memory of _the Princess who is lying face-down on the floor with bandages holding the wound together wrapped around her upper-body_ surging to the front of their minds, and Shin-Ah grits out a _"yes, Yona.”_ The Princess ignores how the atmosphere has changed because she asks, _"you were rather near when that happened, weren't you?”_ with a probing look at him, trying to read his body-language because his face is covered. Shin-Ah mumbles a tiny, ashamed, _"yes”_ , and the Princess reaches across the gap with her free hand to cover one of Shin-Ah’s hands, which is clenched in a fist.

 

 _"Hey,”_ she says gently, _"it's all right. It wasn't your fault.”_ They wait in calm silence for Shin-Ah’s hands to unclench and when they do he ducks his head. _"You felt it when I got hurt, didn't you?"_ she asks him, her eyes fixed on him, and Shin-Ah’s head snaps up to _probably look at her, it's hard to tell since he wears the mask_ , and his mouth opens but no sound comes out but _he_ had _, because Hak remembers blocking out those mumbled questions to Ao the squirrel who wouldn't be able to answer even if she knew what to say._ White Snake and Droopy-Eyes have confusion written on their faces ( _White Snake’s eyes are starting to widen and Hak's seen that look before and the verbal translation for it was_ it couldn't be- _and_ oh, God, don't let it be true-) and Shin-Ah just nods in answer. The Princess nods back and turns her attention to the last Dragon, carefully removing her hand from Shin-Ah’s lax one and sitting back properly again.

 

 _"Jae-Ha,”_ and Droopy-Eyes must have been expecting this because he quickly answers with a _"yes, Yona dear?”_.

 

 _"You remember the Vanishing Cape?”_ And _of course_ they're back to that _stupid_ cliff what did Hak _expect_? _"Of course,”_ Droopy-Eyes replies easily, and the Princess continues with _"before that time, when you went to the Vanishing Cape by yourself, how much did you usually hurt your hands?”_ This makes Droopy-Eyes pause and Hak knows why, because this is the first question she has asked so far that isn't a yes or no question. Droopy-Eyes tries to recover by teasing, _“I almost_ never _hurt myself on that cliff, Yona dear”_ , but the Princess doesn't respond the way he seemed to have expected her to, not pouting but instead nodding calmly and stating _“but it hurt a lot when you helped me, yes?”_ and Droopy-Eyes pauses again with a confused frown spreading across his face because _"yes, actually... how did you-?”_ but the Princess just nods again and says plainly, _"_ _that was my fault. I'm sorry I was so bad at it.”_ Now Droopy-Eyes looks perplexed and _White Snake seems to be paling rapidly to match his color._

 

 _“Princess-”_ White Snake says suddenly, _desperately_ , a twist in his voice that draws the attention of the other Dragons, but the Princess raises her hand and White Snake stops before he can start, trembling in place, and the other two are looking between the Princess and White Snake with matching, confused frowns.

 

The Princess closes her eyes and puts her hand down, faltering after _"I was told-"_ , and after she stops to take a shaky breath she opens her eyes, and a calm has set over them as she repeats _"I was told,"_ and sends a glance at Hak ( _the Dragons follow her glance but keep their attention focused on her_ ), _"that it's past time I tell you about something called sympathy pain."_

 

And Hak watches and listens as she tells the three Dragons about the phenomenon that comes hand-in-hand with soulmates and soulmarks, watching Droopy-Eyes’s face pale to match White Snake’s, and Shin-Ah’s mouth has dropped open in a form of horrified shock, and White Snake is practically crying as he begs the Princess for forgiveness.

 

Her mouth has twisted into a guilty frown and she strains out a _“stop it, you three.”_ They look at her and she adds _“I don't blame you at all. You shouldn't feel guilty.”_ White Snake rasps _"but_ Princess- _” and she interrupts him with, “I'm_ serious _, Kija.”_ They can't seem to find anything to say, so the Princess says with a sigh _"if you have to blame anyone, blame me.”_ Hak frowns but otherwise stays silent because this is not a conversation he is invited to join, but Droopy-Eyes says it for him with _"Yona why in the_ world _-”_

 

 _“Because,”_ she interrupts Droopy-Eyes, closing her eyes, _"because all three of you are thinking right now_ ‘if only we'd known’, _right?”_ They all pause, and she finishes _“so blame me, because I could've told you a lot sooner but I made the decision not to. I'm not sorry for keeping it a secret, and if I'd had my way you all would probably never have known, so don't you_ dare _blame yourselves.”_

 

White Snake is a mess and Shin-Ah seems frozen, so it is Droopy-Eyes who speaks again, asking _“Yona, why_ didn't _you tell us sooner?”_ The Princess's smile is sad in a gentle way, and she says softly, _“because my soulmates are the Dragons that save innocents without a second thought. They're_ you _, not who you'd be if you hesitated at every step because_ you _getting hurt_ _means that_ I _get hurt_. _”_

 

All three of them stare at her, varying degrees of lost, and it's not hard to see that none of them have gotten past running through every time they've ever seen their color on her and wonder _was she close enough to feel that?_ and that they are reliving every one of the wounds they hadn't felt when they had received them, because _the Princess might have felt that_.

 

The forced smile finally falls from the Princess's lips, and Hak balls his fists because _he put that look on her face_ , but then he thinks of _the Princess's agonized scream on the battlefield_ and the _yellow dye on her skin_ and he relaxes his fists because _this was necessary._ _"P_ _lease,”_ she asks of them, searching their expressions, and they all focus on her, _"_ _don't let this change who you are or what you do._ Please _.”_

 

In the end they all nod, but Shin-Ah is still partially frozen ( _Ao pulls on his cheeks and he doesn't react_ ), and Kija is starting to look a step farther from hyperventilation, which Hak supposes is a step in the right direction. Droopy-Eyes is seemingly the most put-together but it's probably a front he's wearing to save some of his pride, because he keeps running a hand through his hair.

 

Then Droopy-Eyes mumbles, almost to himself, looking down and once again raking fingers through his hair as he taps his foot with nervous energy,  _"_ _I guess I have to just be glad that you_ did _decide to tell us now instead of never”_ but then he pauses, and looks at the Princess as he stops mumbling, but begins puzzling out, louder _"_ _but you didn't_ want _to tell us"_ and his eyes flick _to Hak_ and continues _"_ _I guess you decided to make her tell us, which means you've known about this for longer than we have_ _(you bastard, you should've told us_ he adds under his breath _)_ _but something must've happened that made you decide to_ make _her tell us which you'd_ never _do unless-”_ and he stops after unknowingly raking his actual hair-tie out, but he _stops_. Stops everything and just stares. And White Snake and Shin-Ah look at where he's frozen in place, so Hak supposes they must've been listening to his rambling, but it seems Droopy-Eyes ( _whose eyes are not drooping now but wide and full of horror)_ has figured out the biggest point of this whole conversation because he says _"_ _the battle”_ and breathes “Zeno".

 

Then White Snake inhales too sharply and starts coughing violently, and Shin-Ah lets out a sound that is a mix between a whimper and a sob and _not-_ Droopy-Eyes is rapidly losing all of the color in his face that he'd been getting back, and _the Princess is releasing her grip on Hak's coat and leaping to her feet_ and she has the three of them wrapped in a hug between one blink and the next.

 

White Snake stops coughing almost immediately but he gives way to tears and sobs, and Shin-Ah buries his face in her shoulder and clings to her with the one arm he can manage to wrap around her, and _Jae-Ha_ is just looking blankly over her shoulder into the distance, not seemingly processing the arm she has squeezing him. ( _Hak wonders what he's seeing in his mind’s eye, because, as much as he hates to admit it, they have always been_ kind of _similar and if that's the case then Hak thinks he knows what Jae-Ha is imagining (_ a head surrounded by tangled, dawn-colored hair rolls-) _and Hak squeezes his eyes together violently and tries to think of anything else_ ).

 

The Princess moves her hand up from being around Jae-Ha’s torso to reaching around the back of his head, and she brings his head in towards her so he doesn't sit straight anymore, but is now leaning, and he closes his eyes after a couple of minutes and buries his head in her other shoulder. They are all crying at varying degrees now, even the Princess, who Hak can hear is continuously repeating whispered creaks of _"it's all right"_ and _"I'm all right"_ and _"everything is okay"_. The four of them stay like that for what seems like hours, but Hak doesn't move an inch because somehow he is dragged into her assurances because _he needs them as much as the Dragons do_. After a while, the Dragons stop crying and are just holding her, and the Princess's voice finally fades into quiet.

 

Then Hak hears the far-off sounds of Yoon and Zeno returning, and knows that this scene would only bring questions that would _not_ be a good start of a conversation. _"Princess,”_ he says hesitantly, voice rough from disuse, but the Princess simply nods, and steps back from the group hug, carefully releasing the hold she's had on them for however long it's been.

 

 _"Listen,”_ she says carefully, her voice rough from _overuse_ , _"I need to talk to Zeno now. He doesn't know either. Can you all distract Yoon for me? He doesn't need to know about this._ _”_ They all stare at her blankly as she gently strokes their cheeks and meets their eyes, the sounds of approaching people getting closer. Then Shin-Ah nods slowly and _Kija_ nods rapidly ( _he is even more of a mess than before_ ), and Jae-Ha says quietly _“_ _of course, Yona dear”._

 

The three of them hesitate, looking at the Princess as if reassuring themselves that she is still there ( _Hak knows how they feel_ ) before heading back in direction of the camp. On his way past Hak, Jae-Ha pauses and then says to him, under his breath, _“_ _thank you for making her tell us. We would never have known if you didn't”_ before continuing on. The Princess walks up now and stops next to him, and then reaches to once again twist her hand into his overcoat. They stand like that for a couple of moments, listening to _“_ _we’re ba- what happened?? You look horrible!”._

 

 _“It's time,”_ he says softly, breaking the quiet between them, and the Princess ducks her head in response and tightens her hand even more. _“_ _I wish I didn't have to tell him”_ she whispers, and Hak's heart twists. He reaches up to gently wrap one hand around the fist she is making in his coat, not prying her fingers away but holding them in a loose grip that he hopes is comforting.

 

The Princess shows no inclination to move, and Hak wonders if she's considering delaying _this_ conversation until tomorrow, when they hear a single pair of approaching footsteps, even closer this time. _“_ _You have to”_ he breathes to her as Zeno comes into view, his confused and slightly worried face becoming _only_ worry when seeing the Princess's face.

 

 _“What's wrong?”_ he asks, striding forward to stop in front of them. The Princess says nothing, and it is not Hak's answer to give. Zeno looks searchingly between the two of them and adds _"_ _what happened while we were gone? You all look like you've been crying, and Zeno can tell that Ryokuryu was lying when he said he'd just been telling stories that were scary enough to make everyone cry.”_ He stops, waiting for them to say something, it seems, but receives no response. _"_ _Miss?”_ he asks the Princess softly, and then her hands clench tighter still under Hak’s hand ( _the skin of her palm would probably be bleeding under her fingernails by now if she was not holding onto his coat_ ), her shoulders curling inward as if trying to hide.

 

Because he can tell the Princess doesn't know what to say, Hak asks Zeno _"_ _why did you come to meet us out here?”_ and Zeno's eyes snap to him as he feels the Princess's fist relax slightly. _"_ _Ryokuryu told Zeno that you wanted this one to meet you here”_ Zeno tells him, the slightest amount of confusion sneaking its way into his worried face, and his eyes swing back and forth between them, _“was Ryokuryu lying about that too?”_

 

( _Of_ course _Jae-Ha told him that. This is_ his _way of making sure the Princess doesn't back out of telling Zeno, because Jae-Ha_ is _kind of like Hak._ )

 

 _“Zeno,"_ the Princess says, and Hak sees her straighten out as she appears to draw confidence and determination around her like a second-skin ( _the only crack in her mask is shown with the hand she still has and probably will have for the rest of this conversation wrapped around the chunk of fabric he wears_ ) and she continues, _"_ _can I talk to you for a bit?”_

 

There is a pause in which Zeno takes the time to examine her face, reading her expression, before nodding and replying _“of course, Miss”_. Without another word, the Princess turns around and heads back to where she had spoken to the other three Dragons. She sits down where she had been sitting before, not looking at either of them as Hak releases her hand to retake his previous spot and Zeno, perhaps unknowingly, takes the spot in which Kija had sat, directly across from the Princess. They both wait for her to start, watching her face as she struggles to come up with an opener.

 

 _“Zeno”_ she finally starts, with a tense expression on her face, _“exactly how high is your pain tolerance?”_ Hak has to fight down a twisted urge to laugh, because _of course_ she would start that way. Zeno seems to relax, a look of comprehension taking over his face, and Hak doesn't feel like laughing anymore because- _“is that what this is about? Miss, you don't need to worry about_ _Zeno”_ \- Zeno has the wrong idea and this is going to make it even more difficult for the Princess to tell him.

 

And Hak is right, because a look of reluctance has become her expression and he knows it's because she doesn't want to take the relief that Zeno seems to be emanating away from the Dragon. To help the Princess out, Hak says bluntly, _“that's not what this is about”_ and there goes that relief, with confusion again taking its place on Zeno's face as he looks again between Hak and the Princess. Because she is taking too long to continue, Hak adds in _“answer the question”_ and, bewildered, Zeno simply says _“honestly, it's very high. Zeno feels almost no pain anymore.”_

 

Although it was not said with ill-intent, _with the opposite in fact_ , Hak has a difficult time fighting down a grimace. _He feels no pain, huh?_ All Hak can seem to see is the Princess clutching at her heart, her face, her neck, and all he can seem to hear is just the echoes of her near-endless scream of agony and the sobs he saw her choke down. _Then it seems she felt the pain, not with him, but practically_ for _him._

 

He wonders if he's lost his poker face, because the Princess withdraws her nails from his coat to place it on top of his hand, a solid weight that makes him unconsciously relax. She still doesn't look at him, but her hand is there, and he manages to push away the images that are clogging his vision, the sounds that echo too-loudly in his ears.

 

( _For now. Only for now. They will return thrice-fold with a vengeance in his nightmares. Nightmares that will keep him from having a good-night’s sleep more nights than not._ )

 

 _“I’m glad to hear that”_ is what the Princess says softly, then draws a breath _"_ _though that may make this slightly more difficult to explain to you”_. Zeno's eyebrow rises, an incredulous look that conveys _Zeno needs something explained?_ and the Princess's breath comes out in a rush that's half amused and half nervous. _“You see, Zeno... There's something you should know about.”_ After a silent prompt from the Yellow Dragon, she closes her eyes for a moment, then fixes him with a solid stare and states plainly _"_ _There's something that comes with soulmates and soulmarks. It's called sympathy pain.”_

 

And so the Princess tells Zeno about sympathy pain. It is the most horrified expression that Hak has ever seen on a human face. His face becomes so pale that the Princess stumbles over her last sentences of explanation, but finally it is finished and the clearing goes quiet. Zeno's eyes are downcast, staring at the ground in front of him, but Hak knows from his glassy expression that it is not the ground he is seeing.

 

After a couple minutes of silence, the Princess breaks it with a tentative _“Zeno?”_ because they'd been expecting anything from a tearful breakdown to incredulous rage at the situation, and dead silence did not fit in the expectations. Hak can see Zeno's hands begin to tremble from where they are clenched into fists on his lap, but it does not prepare him for the dead voice that comes from Yellow.

 

 _“How long have you known.”_ It is almost not even a question, but the word choice makes up for that lack of vocal inflections. _"Before we met you_ _”_ the Princess replies quietly, which reminds Hak of _'knew for a fact a couple of days after meeting Jae-Ha'_ and that she'd refused to tell him exactly _what_ happened in Awa that made her aware of it, but his train of the thought is interrupted when Zeno looks up at her, staring at her, aghast.

 

 _"Why did you not tell Zeno?”_ he rasps, strangled words practically incoherent, and the Princess's hand is once again wrapped in Hak's coat. _"_ _I-”_ she licks her lips, and says, even quieter than before _"_ _I didn't want to tell you. Any of you.”_ Zeno's eyes are fixed on her face, disbelieving.

 

 _“You-”_ he croaks, looking as if he is in a nightmare that he wishes badly someone would wake him from, _“you didn't_ want _to tell-”_. Then his eyes wrench shut, and he yanks his fists out of his lap, unfurling them and making them collide with his face in one motion. The Princess jerks at the sudden sound, and makes to get up, but is distracted when Zeno continues, kneading the heels of his palms into his eyes. _“Of course you didn't”_ he whispers, hunching his shoulders. _“Of course. You're just like him. He probably kept it from us as well”_ and Hak knows he is thousands of years in the past with the original Dragons and King Hiryuu himself, which is well and good, except it is not Hiryuu that receives the sympathy pain in this century and Zeno needs to acknowledge that before Hak is satisfied. He's just not sure how crass he needs to be to break through to Zeno.

 

 _“Zeno”_ the Princess starts again, once again shifting as if considering getting up, _“I'm sure Hiryuu kept it from you because cared about you too much. He didn't want you to change for him. Not anymore than you'd already been forced to to stay by his side.”_ Zeno's head raises to look at her, his hands falling away to give her a smile that is pained but caring.

 

 _“He may have cared too much, considering keeping this secret quiet is self-endangering”_ the words are spoken with an almost bitter undertone, but his smile is even softer as he continues _“but it seems you have come to that realization yourself, Miss. And Zeno is glad you decided not to keep quiet.”_ Hak wonders how Zeno had managed to convince himself that it was the Princess's decision to divulge this information, but he doesn't really care that much. Zeno gets up, and makes his way over to her, kneeling down in front of her surprised-stiff form. He bites his lip and murmurs _“Zeno wishes that you had told him earlier, though”_ and he reaches out to gingerly trace around her upper arm, a line Hak himself had emphasized earlier to her, and he knows that all three of them are seeing her arms covered from that line down in yellow, though that dye had faded not even hours after they had appeared two days ago.

 

When Zeno asks a rueful _“would you accept an apology from someone that has done such a thing to you?”_ , the Princess's entire face pinches into an angry frown, which Hak thinks must be rather painful considering her face is still slightly swollen from crying. _“I don't want an apology from_ anyone _”_ she tells him fiercely, grabbing his hand from her arm and holding it between both her own, _“least of all from you or the others._ I _decided to not tell you, and I do not regret that decision in the slightest”_. When Zeno still looks partially unconvinced, she yanks his hand and makes him lose balance, and he falls into her arms and she hugs him tightly.

 

Hak hears her murmur into Zeno's ear, and he has always been able to understand what she says, no matter how quiet she is, but he is about 90% certain that he isn't meant to hear this because _“honestly I wouldn't have told you. Any of you. But I realized that you all would probably keep endangering yourselves needlessly and that you would take better care of yourselves if you knew your safety had a correlation to mine.”_ Hak decides that that must be the reason behind her determined expression from earlier, and he finds he's fine with it. She has told them, and that is all that matters. The Princess buries her head further into Zeno's neck and her last whispers are practically inaudible to Hak, but _“because you silly Dragons seem to have a bad habit of self-endangerment”_ and Hak relaxes for the first time since before they'd entered Kai because he is sure now that this will not happen needlessly ever again.

 

He tunes himself out of the newest outpouring of tears and _“it's okay”_ s, and waits for the next half-hour until Zeno finally calms down enough to flash a pained but genuine smile at the Princess before leaving.

 

( _Hak wonders how in the world the other three Dragons had managed to keep Yoon distracted for so long._ )

 

Then the Princess stands up, and he looks up at her as she brushes dirt off her skirt. After doing so she turns to look at him, taking in how he is still sitting, and raises an eyebrow. _“Are you just going to sit there?”_ He gives her a mocking smile and offers his hand, raising an eyebrow challengingly _“help me up, Princess?”_ She looks at him with a mix of amusement and skepticality, then reaches out to grab his hand between both of her own and _yanks_.

 

They will be fine. The Princess is strong. And when she needs some backup, Hak ( _and those Dragons (_ and Yoon _)_ ) will be there whenever she needs them.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments, questions, and concerns are welcome and each one will be celebrated.


End file.
